Hello~ how can relate moisture content in soil and water holding capacity of soil to maintain the moisture of this soil at 40% during one month experiment? thank you
What is the setup of the experiment? A pot, a patch, an entire field in open area?
Controlling ambiental temperature, air flow, sun radiation and (if present) plant growth. As these variables will alter the rate of water evapotranspiration/loss.
Improving the setup using certain water retention materials will also decrease the rate of water depletion, and, therefore reducing the necessity to do constant checks/irrigations.
To keep track of moisture I will recommend using a soil moisture tester (or dispose several sensors in a larger zone). Depending on the rate of evapotranspiration you will need to check them daily (and irrigate manually) or use a sensor array connected to a PLC with a nebulizator. Take in mind that soil is very heterogeneous and lectures are complex to measure. So, to ensure your methodology is exactly consider sampling soil and realizing assays in a moisture balance (or, using a stove at 110ºC for 24h).
To estimate the quantity of water to add for maintaining the 40%HR you can use the moisture measures to estimate the weight of water loss and add about 90% of this quantity over a prolonged time to ensure you don't over irrigate the system.
Relying on laboratory methods to continuously examine changes in moisture content, estimate the amount of loss and compensate for it
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